Thread: Handsaw Steel

Originally Posted by woodtryer

Hi, I have been reading other threads about what people do to get steel for making handsaw blades. I have a question, can you just purchase a cheap handsaw with the hardened teeth, cut the teeth off (to remove the hardened steel) and then use the steel from the cheap saw?

Thanks,

Peter.

The unhardened steel will probably be too soft to hold a point for very long.

Look for blue floor scraper blades - they come in two sizes.

Thanks for that BobL, I thought it would be too simple.....

Cheers

Pete.

Well, Bob, I've used the steel from hard-point saws quite a few times, & was happy enough with the results. The hardened edge usually extends no more than a mm or two above the gullets of the teeth, and the steel above that is indistinguishable from regular saw steel, to me. It certainly feels the same under a file. I haven't noticed any difference in edge-holding, but there are a couple of caveats. First, there may well be quite a bit of variation between them - possibly reflected by the initial purchase price, but then again maybe not! A field worthy of study by someone with access to testing equipment??

Second, I haven't tried any direct comparisons with steels bought as 'saw-blade steel' vs. recycled blades. I have noticed quite a wide range of hardness in regular old saw blades (as indicated by their resistance to filing), but it's hard for me to tell what difference, if any, this makes in use. If you were using saws all day every day & had to sharpen daily like the carpenters of old, I daresay you would notice if a saw held its edge longer, but even though I would probably use saws far more than average, I still don't use them constantly enough to pick small differences.

As for the Bunnies scraper blades, they no longer exist on this side of the island, I'm afraid. None of the Bunnies stores within a cut-lunch and full water bottle distance of me have had the thinner blades (about 0.65mm, from memory) for years, and I haven't seen any of the thicker (0.8mm) blades since the beginning of this year. I asked one of those helpful people in the red shirts when they were likely to get new stock, and was told quite firmly that they never carried such things, ever! It was both amusing & sad, because the empty box from which I had recently grabbed the last 2 blades was still on the shelf behind him.

So you need to get out there & find us a new convenient source of small amounts of saw-blade steel, my lad!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Well, Bob, I've used the steel from hard-point saws quite a few times, & was happy enough with the results. The hardened edge usually extends no more than a mm or two above the gullets of the teeth, and the steel above that is indistinguishable from regular saw steel, to me. It certainly feels the same under a file. I haven't noticed any difference in edge-holding, but there are a couple of caveats. First, there may well be quite a bit of variation between them - possibly reflected by the initial purchase price, but then again maybe not! A field worthy of study by someone with access to testing equipment??

That's good to know.

I did test the hardness of a cheap saw with hardened points back in 2009? I think it was a craftsman?? I can't remember the exact hardness but it was definitely softer than the Axis Blue steel floor scraper blades

The other hardness testing I did was a on bunch of large paint scraper blades. I purchased a selection from hardware stores tested them and then returned them all except a couple that I have somewhere in my mess of a shed. The hardness testing leaves a pinprick indentation on the blade that can only be seen if you know where to look for it. I tried to find the spreadsheet with all the testing data but no luck - I do remember that some were as hard as the Axis material.

I saw Axis blue steel blades in Bunnings at the Perth/Cannington store a couple of weeks ago.
According to their website these are not available at all stores but can be obtained by special order
check this Tiling Accessory Dta Scraper Blade Fs150/rd I/N 6650066 | Bunnings Warehouse

Not planning to make a backsaw in the upcoming couple of months are you ? Because you just might have hit the jackpot !
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/me...87/index8.html

Some Years ago I spent some time in Dubai visiting my daughter who works over there as a Architect. While there I spent some time acting in the roll as a clerk of works on a Villa being constructed that she had designed.
The intinerent so called Asian carpenters and or workers erecting the form work on the site and on other sites all over Dubai would all use similar hand saws to cut all the materials making up the form work, these hand saws consisted of a long tapper blade about 600 long about 40 mm wide at the tip and 75 wide at the handle end, they looked like what we would call a pruning saw. The blades were all imported with no handles from Germany and the handles that would be made and fitted by each individual who would require a saw. The teeth to the blades were cut for pull action as similar to the action of a Japanese saw. The saws being used all seemed to stand up to the ware and tare of the condition on the construction site.
It may be of interested to know who was the manufacturer in Germany who produces these blades as it may be a future source of obtaining saw blade steel material for members interested in making there own saws.
Cheers Malcolm eaton